Throughout the 2011 stanley cup playoffs experts have been asking how good are the Vancouver Canucks this year?

The expectations on the most part were that of cautious optimism. Meaning that most people were thinking that they had the best regular season record but are on the most part unproven in the playoffs. They garnered some comparisons to the San Jose Sharks in that they often do extremely well in the regular season only to fizzle out in the playoffs due to their poor ability to adapt to the increased physicality in the playoffs. So far the Nucks have been able to step up to the physical pressure and have pushed back, hard, sometimes even a little over the line hard.

Up to this point the Canucks have defied expectations as according to many experts they should not have made it out of the first round against the Blackhawks. This being said the question remains; How good are the Vancouver Canucks? Are they Stanley Cup Champion good? In short Yes. I say this because they have shown that they are who they thought they are. Not necessarily who we thought they are or who we thought they might be. Bobby Lu has proven himself to be one of the best in the game in the playoffs when he is on his game. He was in the discussion for the Conn Smythe coming into the finals and despite having two consecutive poor outings has shown enough for us to think he will bounce back. The Sedins have shown flashs of brilliance but have lacked consistency while Ryan Kesler has shown that he truly is one of if not the best two way player in the game. Although the defense has been devastated by injuries and suspensions they have all been solid in their increased roles. All this points to the Canucks being able to bounce back from adversity and finish off the bruins in most likely seven with both teams holding true to home advantage.